4.5 Formulating a Research Question

Based on information acquired in the preliminary survey, the researcher can formulate a research question to focus on. Obviously, identifying other individuals (father, mother, siblings, spouse, children) is the main purpose of the project, but research questions help genealogists discover the story behind the facts and documents. The Board for Certification of Genealogists defines research question as follows: “A question that research aims to answer, in genealogy a focused question that seeks unknown information about a specific person and that helps frame research scope, lead to relevant information, and identify evidence.”

Consider, for instance, if the researcher completing a preliminary survey looks at online trees and finds an ancestor named Raymond has documented birth information, names of parents, a list of possible siblings, and two childhood census records, it appears there is credible evidence documenting Raymond’s childhood. A possible research question would be “Who did Raymond marry, and what information can be gathered about his life in adulthood?” The research project may lead to a multitude of information:

• Identifying his wife through marriage records

• Finding documents naming his children

• Discovering employment or occupation records

• Looking for property and other documents

• Proving his death and burial through death records, obituaries, etc.

Having a clear research question is important because families are complex and connected. Without a specific research question, it is easy to get off track instead of staying focused and seeing a project through from beginning to end. Answering one research question will probably lead to other questions; keeping a list of additional questions for future research is an excellent practice. As more questions come up, they can be documented in the research log and then listed in the final report under “Future Research.”